Sermon Snippet – Yet Another Person You Should Know – Mark 1:40-45
1. [I AM A LEPER] – Unclean! Unclean! Stay away! Come no closer than 6 feet – and if the wind direction changes and comes from behind me, flee – get at least 150 feet away. You can see that my clothes are torn: they have to be, according to the Law of Moses (Leviticus 13:45). My hair is uncut and unkempt as a warning to anyone who might unknowingly stumble across me, for I am a leper. I am disfigured: you can see that part of my ear is missing. One morning when I woke up, it was just gone. By the bite marks, I could tell that a rat had done it. You see, leprosy has destroyed my sense of feeling. I couldn’t feel that rat biting me; I slept right through it. Now I know why many lepers keep cats. I am disfigured, and I am very much alone. I have plenty of time to think. Why, oh, why has this happened to me? I believe in the One True God; He is YAHWEH – Rapha, “the LORD that healeth thee” (Exodus 15:26). I know that He will send the Messiah, the Savior. Yet, people treat me as though I love the Evil One; I don’t, not at all. Oh, I know that leprosy is used as a symbol of sin. As a boy, I was taught the Scripture (Numbers 12:9-15) at the synagogue school. I know that sin, like leprosy, is disgusting; it spreads; it takes complete control; finally, it kills. I know all that, but tell me this – tell me this: am I really worse than everyone else?
2. [I COME TO YESHUA (JESUS) – v. 40] – Of course, I am always the last to hear, but more than anyone else, I needed to hear about this Yeshua. Faith healers? They’re all fakes. They never really heal anyone, and they never let people like me within a mile of them. But this Yeshua is different. He really heals people. Perhaps He will heal me.
3. [I AM TOUCHED BY JESHUA (JESUS) – v. 41] – He touched me! Do you understand? The Savior touched me! What a miracle! No one has touched me for years. I remember the last time: my mother embraced me as I left with my father to go to Jerusalem. I remember my father’s hand on my head as we prayed at the Temple, as we prayed that the blotches on my skin were not the first signs of leprosy. But the priests were experts, and they knew that it was leprosy. I was isolated, quarantined. Since then, I have not known the touch of a human being, until the Savior touched me. Here’s another miracle: I felt the touch! My numbed body could feel again!
4. [I AM HEALED – v.42] – Yes, I could feel the touch! What I could feel is that I was cleansed all over – all over. Clean! Clean! “Immediately,” I am clean all over – and all through!
5. [I AM TELLING YOU – vv. 43-45] – I shouldn’t be telling you any of this, not now. Yeshua told me not to say anything. But you understand, don’t you? I almost can’t believe it. I was a leper; I came to Yeshua, and He touched me and made me whole. Now, I’m telling you because I hope that you will feel the same stirring that I felt when I came to Him: it was the stirring of faith. Here’s the truth: His name means “YAHWEH is salvation,” and He is indeed the Savior. He healed my leprosy, but, more importantly, He healed my eternal soul. If you don’t believe me, find out for your self. Go to Him. Let Him touch you. He is willing and able to make you clean and whole – now and forever…What? You know all of this? You know all about Yeshua? Then why didn’t you let me know? I could have died from my leprosy; even worse, I could have died in my sins. How could you not tell Me?